Waterfall, Wash Me Away
by Nigiri Ashika
Summary: As Draco Malfoy's 'perfect' pureblood family falls apart, Draco learns that appearances aren't the only thing that matter. His thoughts turn from passionate hatred to... something else when the only person who knows what he's going through is Hermione.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N/Disclaimer: **Yes, this is a Harry Potter fan fiction. No, as usual, I don't own anything legally, since I am a minor everything that is mine is technically my moms. Of course, in one year, one month, 11 days, and 11 minutes, I _will_ be an adult... Whoah. Scary thought... These disclaimers will mean something at that time.

**Waterfall, Wash Me Away**

Hermione wandered into the forbidden forest, alone and enshrouded in a disillusionment charm. She had given Hagrid's hut a wide berth, but still hid behind a tree whenever she thought she saw movement in that direction. When she was in the shadows of the trees, she felt more relaxed- though not enough to take off the charm. Wand in her pocket, she slowed her footsteps, gazing at the canopy above her. The forest really was a very beautiful place, if you didn't insult the residents.

She looked down at her feet. One of her disillusioned trainers had an oddly shimmering shape on it, and she had to un-disillusion herself to recognise it. The shape turned out to be a gigantic green slug, and it seemed to be trying to eat her shoelace. She kicked, but instead of going flying the slug stuck firmly. She grabbed a stick and tried to poke it off, but it still held firm. She was getting desperate, and the bottom of her school robes were a bit slimy, so she resigned to pulling at it with her bare hands; this was a horrible idea. Oh yes, the slug came off- with a 'squelch'- but her hands were now slimy and sticky. It was extremely uncomfortable.

"Eugh!" She grunted, trying to wipe her hands on a tree. This only worsened her situation, as now bits of bark and small insects were sticking to the slime. She looked around desperately, and fell silent. _Is that-_ she wondered silently to herself-_ do I hear water?_ She strained her ears, listening hard. A bit of static in the distance suggested that she was right. She started running toward the sound, hands held out at each side so as to not get anything nasty on her robes. She almost tripped on a root (that would have been disastrous) but at the last second stumbled and caught herself. She returned to a walking pace, and slowed further as a sound other than the water entered her ears. As she recognised the low murmured voice she let out a shudder, and quickly hid behind a tree.

_Leave it to Draco Malfoy to be around right when I wanted to be alone... and of course my hands are slimy as he is. Just my luck._

She peeked around the tree to see not one, but two Malfoys standing next to the stream she so desperately needed. The younger, sitting on a white rock at the water's edge, seemed to be lecturing the older one about something. His voice was cut off as the elder said, "Draco, this has nothing to do with you. Your father is the one who went around, _behind my back_, selling all of our darkest and most prized possesions!"

"But mum, you can always buy them back from Borgin and Burke's," Draco said flatly. "That's where he sold everything, and I know Borgin wouldn't have sold it to anyone else that fast."

Narcissa Malfoy laughed coldly. "Buy them back! With what money, I ask you? They'll have doubled the prices! Your fool father, trying to cover his arse... I should have seen this coming from miles away. He is not loyal to the Dark Lord! Not fully. He'd sell the entire mansion, if we had anywhere else to stay! Anything to hide the allegiance he swore to. No, Draco, I'm leaving him and there's nothing you can do about it. But don't worry darling, mummy still loves you. I'll see you this summer." And with this, Narcissa turned and disappeared in the direction of the boundary of the forest.

Hermione almost felt bad for Draco for a moment, but then realized she needed to do something about the now hardening shell of ooze coating her hands. She walked upstream a bit, hiding in the trees, until she came to a pond with a waterfall.

"Perfect!" She exclaimed, and ran over the the cascading stream. She thrust her hands under the water, and to her surprise, it was a quite comfortable temperature. _I could swim in here... But _Hogwarts, a History_ never mentioned anything like this warm waterfall. It could be dangerous_... As she thought this, she looked at her hands. They had cleaned off nicely, and weren't covered in and boils or anything from the contact, but she still took them out of the water and began to dry them on her robes.

She was struck with a vision of utmost beauty. Across the pool a unicorn stepped up to the shore and bent its head so far forward that the tip of its long, glistening white horn broke the surface and sent ripples through it. Deciding it was poison-free, it leaned its mouth in and drank deeply.

_If it's good enough for a unicorn, it's good enough for me._ Hermione smiled, and stuck her mouth under the waterfall. It was the most delicious water she had ever tasted. Her taste buds prickled when she was finished drinking, and she was tempted to take another sip. She decided not to, as she wasn't really very thirsty at all anymore- one sip had quenched her fully. She sat on the pale, rocky shore, and looked up at the sheer cliff the water was falling from. Green vines traced from the canopy above the waterfall the the base of the pool, as if holding the rockface in place. Though she was in a clearing on ground-level, the forest roof was just as thick above as anywhere else. Small shafts of light shone through the few places there were holes in the canopy, illuminating where she sat and a few other select places. Everything was tinged with green. _Who would have known the Forbidden Forest would have such a lovely place?_

"It's _perfect_," she said again, admiring the pool and sighing. This was exactly what she needed right now. She breathed in the cool air, and wondered why she had come into the forest at all, what had made her so miserable she had felt the need to avoid everything and everyone. The words _Ron_ and _twat_ flew threw her head, but were whisked away again as if on the light breeze. Who really cared what stupid old Ron thought of her anyways? He was just a foolish _boy_, after all.

Her musings were interupted however, by an angry voice.

"What are _you_ doing here, mudblood?" Draco Malfoy spat, glaring at the girl with utmost disgust. "Students aren't allowed."

Hermione laughed slightly, looking at his white hair, which was illuminated by a shaft of light. It was almost a blinding sight. Hermione, no matter how much she hated Malfoy, had to admit that his hair was gorgeous. "I could say the same to you."

He took a step towards her, drawing his wand. "Go away before I hex you."

When he stepped out of the light, she could his face better. The area around his eyes were blotchy and red, in a stark contrast to his otherwise pale skin. "Have you been-" Hermione said, surprised, but was cut off as he aimed his wand at the rock below her and shouted, "_Reducto_!" The rock exploded and she was sent flying into the pond.

"What was that for?" She exclaimed as she resurfaced, gasping for breath.

"I told you to leave! Get out of here!" Malfoy stalked towards her, wand pointed at her throat. She tread water, staring at him in disbelief. "_Alerte Ascendare_!"

Hermione felt a jolt behind her navel, as if being transported by a portkey. Instead of spinning to a new location though, she was wrenched thirty feet into the air and then just as quickly she plummeted back to the water. Instead of immediately rising to the surface, however, she fumbled with her robes and grabbed her wand. Then she swam to the surface, and as soon as her head hit the air she shouted, "_Expelliarmus_!" She shouted, knocking the Slytherin's wand twenty feet from him and throwing him backward into a tree. "What. Was. That. For?" She asked, pausing between each word as she got out of the water. Her wand was pointed at his neck now, and he was cowering behind his hands.

She lowered her wand, and saw that he was crying. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you? Just cos your mum and dad are fighting doesn't mean you can go around and _attack_ people!" He lowered his hands and looked up at her.

"How did you know...?" Tears were still streaming down his face, and he looked quite pathetic.

"I... overheard you and your mother..." Hermione was taken aback by the look on his face. It was so honest, so real... She had never seen him with his guard down before. But it only lasted a second. At her words his face contorted to a grimace and then utter rage. He lunged, grabbing for her neck, and she was too surprised to stop him. He spun around and held her up against the tree, her feet several inches off the ground.

"You were spying on me? You filthy mudblood what gives you the right to spy on _me_? I am the heir to the house of Malfoy, the most powerful and pure of all the ancient wizarding families! I could have you arrested- even _killed_ on a whim!" He looked at her, struggling to breathe, and snatched her wand away. He pointed it at her and yelled, "_Stupefy_!"

She woke up several hours later, laying on the ground right where he had left her. The sun had sunk into the sky, and it was almost dusk. Her wand was on the ground next to her, and she rolled over and grabbed it, struggling to her feet. "Point me," she whispered to her wand, and it showed her which direction North was.

She slowly made her way through the forbidden forest, and back to the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** "'Mione" is pronounced like Hermione, without the her. It's not too difficult. This is my own story, so bits and pieces are compiled together from the books, though they might not all fit in the real thing- such as: they're in their sixth year, but Fred and George are still students at Hogwarts, Hermione has decided to put up with Divination, and nobody's died.

**Waterfall, Wash Me Away**

Hermione made it back to the castle just in time for dinner. It took her longer than she had expected, because after walking a few feet from the pool she realized she had a long gash on her leg, most likely from when Malfoy made the rock she was sitting on explode. As she limped into the main hall, Lavender Brown, who was waiting outside the great hall wearing a pink headband and matching shirt, grabbed her arm. Hermione couldn't help but notice that Ron was nowhere to be found, but that was probably who she had been waiting for.

"I'm so sorry about earlier- Hermione, what happened?" She gaped at Hermione, looking her over. "Did you get in a fight with the giant squid? Come with me." The shorter girl dragged her to the nearest girls' washroom. Hermione examined herself in the mirror, gasping.

"It's ruined!" She said, holding out the hem of her shirt. Today she had decided to wear a nice white button-up beneath her robes, hoping that Ron would notice the effort. Now it was covered in grass stains and dirt and a bit of moss, from the pool of water she had been _so_ gently plunged into. She tried to clean it with a swipe of her wand, but it only spread and made the shirt worse.

"What happened?"

"I went swimming, obviously." Hermione glared at the girl. Being back in the castle every emotion that had sent her into the Forbidden Forest earlier flooded back into her, and she felt tears pricking behind her eyes. "Look, can you get Ginny Weasley for me? I know how much you must be missing your... 'Won-Won'"

Lavender stared at Hermione, sizing her up. She looked so miserable, with her mossy hair and ruined shirt, and tears running down her face... Lavender decided that for today, she could afford Hermione some amnesty. She scurried off to find Ginny Weasley.

Ginny was at her usual spot at the Gryffindor table, laughing at something Luna had said. According to the look on Luna's face, she hadn't meant to be funny. "Ginny, Hermione needs you. She's in the girls' washroom. She looks an awul mess." Ginny, who had turned red when she realized she shouldn't be laughing, stood up hurriedly, glad to avoid the embarassment. Ginny dashed off, leaving Lavender and Luna looking awkwardly at each other.

"Hermione?" Ginny asked gently. "Hermione, are you in here?" She heard a sniff in one of the stalls, and a bedraggled Hermione came out, face red and wet. Ginny rushed over to her, and embraced the poor girl in a hug. "Oh, 'Mione. Here, let's get you up to Gryffindor Tower." She took her hand, and lead her out of the washroom. As they entered the now deserted entrance hall, Hermione shivered, and pulled her robes closer around herself. "Lavender wasn't kidding- you look horrible! What happened?"

Hermione looked down at her feet as they continued to walk up to Gryffindor Tower. "Got in a fight wiv Malfoy," she mumbled under her breath.

"What?" Ginny hadn't heard a word she had said.

"I said, I got in a Fight. With. Malfoy!" Hermione almost shouted, tears streaming down her face. Ginny stared at her, speechless. "No, that's not why I'm crying," Hermione admitted, bitterly. "That's just why I look so awful."

Ginny's face revealed that she couldn't decide what to ask next, so Hermione continued.

"Your bloody awful brother is still with Lavender Brown, and it disgusts me to no end. Then earlier this morning, right after divination- and you know what kind of mood that class puts me in- I get in a row with her over whether or not 'The Grim' _really_ appeared in nine people's tea leaves today, and he takes _her side_! He didn't even know what we were arguing about!" Hermione finished in a huff, and began to walk in silence.

"That prat! I'll beat him up for you, if you want." Ginny grinned and put an arm over Hermione's shoulder. Hermione tried to smile, as Ginny opened the potrait hole and helped her in. "Here. You get dressed in some dry clothes, and I'll grab my stash of Chocolate Frogs and Nevermelt Ice Cream and be right down, okay? Then we can talk about your fight with Malfoy. I do hope you won?" She asked, pausing to look at Hermione. At the shake of the bushy hair, she muttered to herself, "Well, I'd better throw in some butterbeer, too, then," and ran to her room.

Several minutes later, the two of them were sitting in front of the fire in the common room, sipping butterbeers with ice cream and chocolate frogs between them. "How did you get all of this?" Hermione asked, stalling for time. The attempt failed, as Ginny said simply, "Fred and George."

"Where were you when Malfoy attacked you?" Ginny asked, grabbing a frog and watching Hermione closely.

"Who said anything about being attacked?" Hermione asked, grinning into her butterbeer. "We could have been dueling for the fun of it."

"Well he had to have caught you off your guard, otherwise you'd've won, no contest. You really _are_ the most talented witch of your year."

"I'm flattered. All right, fine, he _did_ attack me. In the Forbidden Forest. Whilst crying." Ginny gasped.

"Wh-wh-what? Malfoy... _Crying_?" Ginny coughed in a fit of hysteria.

"No, don't laugh! _Please_, Ginny! It's a secret!" But Ginny continued laughing, and when she tried to take a sip of butterbeer it spluttered out her nose. At this very moment, Fred and George Weasley burst through the portrait-hole, singing a song about 'The Muggle Who Won the Quidditch World Cup'.

"..._And they all cheered_!" The boys finished, bowing to the empty room before turning and seeing the two girls by the fire. "Oh, hey Gin! Hermione, What's-" Fred began, to be cut off by George.

"That in your hair?" George finished, walking over to Hermione and picking out a bit of moss.

"I fancied a swim earlier, and haven't showered yet," Hermione lied, looking away.

"And what about-"

"Your leg?"

Hermione looked down at the gash in her leg. "Oh, bugger."

"To Madame Pompfrey!" The the twins said simultaneously, and then went over to her chair and scooped her up. They began to carry her out of the common room when Ginny stopped them.

"Wait, Fred, George, put her down!" Ginny said, still giggling a bit.

"What are you on about then?" Fred asked, looking suspiciously at the giggling girl.

"Had one too many?" asked George, pointing at the butterbeer in her hand and smiling.

"No, wait, I wanted to see if I could heal her leg," Ginny mumbled, regaining her composure. "I know the spell, and I want to give it a shot before she gets dragged off to the hospital wing for nothing."

Hermione nodded at her, and struggled to make the boys put her down. "Thank you very much," she said seethingly at the twins. "But next time, I'd rather have some warning before you pick me up and attempt to lug me off somewhere. Ginny?" She looked inquiringly at Ginny who took out her wand and muttered "_Mende_", while running it across the cut. It quickly healed itself, and Ginny looked rather pleased.

---

Soon after Fred and George arrived, more people started streaming in from dinner. Ginny scooped up her snacks and pointed Hermione to the portrait hole. "I still want to hear the whole story!" She said, as she lead Hermione to the Room of Requirement. "We need someplace peaceful, and quiet, with comfortable chairs." She repeated this as the walked back and forth, as this was the only way to get the Room of Requirement to open. When the door appeared, she wrenched it open and sat Hermione down on a red beanbag chair in what looked to be a small living room. She then grabbed a yellow beanbag chair and sat next to her friend. "Now," She said, taking a swig from a new butterbeer. "Tell me everything."

Hermione told her about how, after fighting with Ron and Lavender, she had disillusioned herself and marched into the Forest, searching for peace and some time alone. She told her about the slug, and overhearing Malfoy, and finally, she got to the part about the pool.

"It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, Gin! The water was a clear, crystal blue, and the ground was sandy but looked green in the light shining in through the trees. It was amazing. And there was a waterfall! I was rinsing my hands in it when a _unicorn_ came up from across the pool and started drinking the water, not fifteen feet from me!"

"Wow," Ginny said, eyes alight. She decided that she would look for it some time, if she ever got the chance. "It sounds beautiful."

"It was. But then Malfoy had to go and spoil it! He just appeared, as if out of nowhere, and started cursing me!"

"What? Why did he do that?"

"He told me to leave, and his eyes were all red so I asked if he had been crying. He made the rock I was sitting on explode and I flew into the water, and, well, eventually I grabbed on to my wand and _expelliarmus_sed him, and started telling him he had no right to attack me even if his parents _were_ getting a divorce. He asked how I knew, and, well, he looked so pathetic, crying like that, so I told him how I'd overheard his conversation with his mother. He just _snapped_. He started calling me- well, you know. And talking about how since he was a pureblood I had no right to _spy_ on him! As if I would _ever_, in my _life_, want to spy on Draco Malfoy having a row with his mother! And then he-" she paused, looking at her shoes. "Then he stole my wand and stunned me, and that's the last thing I remember." She didn't want to tell Ginny how he had threatened to have her killed, or how he nearly strangled her. She wasn't sure _why_ she was keeping it to herself, but she felt she should.

"He did all that?" Ginny asked, staring at her, eyes wide. "And that's why you were back so late- because you'd been knocked out in the middle of the Forbidden Forest? We need to tell someone."

"No!" Hermione surprised even herself, defending him, but the words tumbled out of her. "No, I don't want him to get in trouble."

"You don't want him to get in trouble..." Ginny's freckled face had gone pale under her red hair. "You don't want him to get in trouble for attacking you? For cutting your leg and abandoning you in the Forest?"

"No. Gin, I feel so sorry for him. If Dumbledore heard about this, Draco would get kicked out! Can you imagine what that would do to him? _And_ what that would do to his already broken family? I couldn't do that to anyone. Not even Draco Malfoy." Hermione had lost her appetite for chocolate frogs, and stood up. "Thanks for letting me whine to you. I think I'm going to go up to bed now." She started out the door.

"I'd recommend a shower first," Ginny said, picking a bit of moss out of Hermione's hair and dropping it on the floor. The girls both half-laughed, and then returned to Gryffindor Tower in silence.


	3. Chapter 3

**Waterfall, Wash Me Away**

Draco Malfoy sat on a green beanbag chair in the Room of Requirement, head in his hands.

_How could I let this get to me?_ he asked himelf, choking back sobs. It was the middle of the night, and he had snuck out to be alone once every one was asleep. He just didn't think he could face the darkness of sleep, after what he'd done. _What I've done? What did I do? I just jinxed a mudblood. Father would be proud._ At the thought of his father, the tears pumped harder out of his eyes, and he stared at an abandoned butterbeer bottle on the floor, between two beanbag chairs- one red and one yellow. It wasn't quite empty yet, and in his misery he grabbed it and was about to empty the contents down his throat when he saw a small, green piece of what looked like a clump of thread on the neck of the bottle. Upon closer inspection, the green mass revealed itself to be moss. The startled boy dropped the bottle, and it spilled on the floor, staining the light carpet a pale yellow.

_Granger must have been in here last night,_ he thought to himself, sighing a breath of relief before realizing what he was relieved about. _Good, she's okay._ The thought surprised him- what did he care if the muggle-born girl made it back to the school or not? He decided that he did care, but only because if she hadn't made it back eventually the responsibility would fall to him. _Though it probably will anyway- I bet when I wake up in the morning she'll have told on me. Why did I do something so stupid? She could have been- she could have been killed!_ He shuddered at the thought. Not, he reminded himself, because he was worried for her sake- he only cared about his future, and killing someone was not a good start.

He stood up to leave, to go back to the Slytherin dormitory to do who knows what, when he noticed a shelf full of alcohols that were much stronger than the butterbeer on the floor beside him. He wasn't really one to drink, but since he was probably getting kicked out of school tomorrow anyway, he grabbed the nearest firewhiskey and took a long gulp. The flavour burned his throat, and his stomach churned at the feeling of the alcohol, but he didn't care. He finished the entire bottle, and then stumbled his way out of the Room of Requirement, grabbing another bottle on the way. "Amazing, that room ish," He slurred drunkenly to a nearby portrait of a young girl as he passed. "Anything you want- anything at all- it givesh you!" At this, he swayed dangerously, and had to grasp onto the frame of the girl's portrait to keep from toppling over. "You're pretty."

Somehow, he made it back to the room he shared with Crabbe, Goyle, and a few other Slytherins and ended up on his bed, firewhiskey still in his hand. "Know who else is pretty?" He addressed the sleeping room. He grinned sleepily, as he began to drift off. "Me."

---

_All he could see was the girl sitting on the white rock. She looked peaceful, her brown eyes closed, head back, long, bushy brown hair sweeping the rock. He could hear the waterfall, smell the scent of the churning water mixed with the pine of the forest. He felt sand under his bare feet, but all he could see was the girl. Beautiful wasn't the word to describe her- in fact, she was quite plain- but for some reason he found her to be the most attractive person he had ever seen. Then, another figure came into his view- a blond monster, with a red face and hatred in his eyes. The monster said something in a venemous tone, and the girl's smooth voice retorted coolly. He could not make out the words, but he could tell the monster was threatening her, as it was now holding a stick aimed in her direction._

_"NO!" He shouted, running towards the girl as fast as he could and holding his arms out to block the oncoming spell. The monster smiled at him cruelly, eyes glowing red, and with a twitch of his wand, the spell went straight through him and the rock holding the girl exploded. He heard a muffled scream, and then a large splash. "HERMIONE!"_

_He looked for where she had gone, but he couldn't see the pond. All he could see was those glowing, red, eyes, glaring at him from the face so similar to his own._

---

Draco Malfoy awoke, clinging to the bottle of firewhiskey from the night before as if his life depended on it. His bedsheets were tangled around him, and the sun blaring in through his window was causing him the worst headache he'd ever had. The other beds around him were empty, so he closed the curtains of the window and took his time getting dressed. He stashed the firewhiskey beneath his bed for another day. When he finally made it out into the Slytherin common room and examined the ornate clock with the snakes for hands on the wall, it told him that he had twenty minutes left to get down to breakfast and eat his fill.

The smell of food hit Draco's nose like a wave of poisonous gas. His stomach began to churn, not out of hunger, but out of revulsion. He managed to find Crabbe and Goyle, and grabbed a seat between the two. The goblet in front of him was filled with water, and he drank it without hesitation. It refilled itself, and he finished it off again, in one gulp. He hadn't noticed until he began to drink the water how thirsty he had been, and now he took to it like... well like a horse to water. Crabbe and Goyle hadn't noticed his strange behavious, or late entrance, because they were so immersed in their own, huge breakfasts. Malfoy was thankful about this, and took the opportunity to look around the great hall unhindered.

Granger was sitting with the Weasley girl, quite a distance from the other Weasleys at the end of the Gryffindor table. There was another person with them- that strange Ravenclaw girl with the funny glasses- but he remained focused on Hermione. She looked exactly as she had in his dream, and the feeling of attraction he had felt for her then had returned. _No! That was just a dream! Stop it!_ He told himself, and was relieved to find that the emotion was fading.


End file.
